Introduction

You don’t need Egyptian toms or Roman Ruins to be an archaeologist. All you need is a place to observe material remains and sharp eyes. You can have a ‘dig’ in your bedroom, a video game arcade, or a movie theater. Archaeologists look at human remains, either objects made by or used by humans) to try to construct a story of how a group lived. In this activity you will be a detective and an archaeologist by finding pieces of the puzzle and putting them together.

Purpose

• Reinforcement of curriculum in Social Studies
• Discuss a variety of jobs and careers
• Explore talents as they relate to future potential jobs.

Time

This activity can take between 25 minutes and 2 hours.

Materials

• Sharp eyes and careful observation
• Journal and pen/pencil

Directions

• Select a place to observe.
• Have all ‘detectives’ write down his or her observations describing the objects in the place.
• Note: Don’t rely on everyday terms to describe things. For example, dishes with leftover spaghetti might be described as a hard, flat circular object covered with long, thing, tube-like yellow pieces. Think beyond the appearance of an object, too, and describe how they might smell or feel.
• Write down what you think the answer would be to questions like the following: What do we know about the people who lived here? What can we tell about what they did or who they were?
• When you are both finished with your thoughts and observations, share your recordings.

Other Information and Resources

It may be interesting to look at how archaeology is portrayed in films and books. Movies like Indiana Jones and The Mummy depict archaeologists at work. How do these compare to the type of archaeology that you did? Did the archaeologist in the book or movie use the same methods you did or different ones?